Credit unions in Columbia saw varied results of National Bank Transfer Day.
“We have not experienced an increase in membership due to the publicity of Bank Transfer Day,” Columbia Credit Union President Dave Hendrey said.
Meanwhile, Tigers Credit Union saw more positive results. It had a 35 percent increase in the number of accounts opened between Oct. 1 and Nov. 28.
“Over last the month and a half, we have seen an increased number of university students, faculty and staff taking advantage of our services here at the credit union,” Tigers Credit Union Program Director Laura Kogut said.
Unlike Tigers Credit Union, Missouri Credit Union saw a minor increase in account openings, but no major movements.
“It appears most of the bank transfer activities happened in larger metro areas, but we have gained about 100 new members in each of the last several months,” said Margaret McDermott, senior vice president of marketing at Missouri Credit Union. “I can’t say it is because of National Bank Transfer day, but the sentiment behind it has been mounting in the past few months.”
[Credit Union National Association reports](http://www.cuna.org/newsnow/11/wash110811-2.html) that 40,000 new accounts were opened, adding $80 million in new savings account funds. Most of the activity was at larger credit unions.
[According to Time Magazine](http://moneyland.time.com/2011/11/04/650000-americans-switched-to-credit-unions-last-month/), the Credit Union National Association also stated that an estimated 650,000 new members joined credit unions in the month of October alone. In comparison, credit unions added 600,000 new members in all of 2010.
Bank Transfer Day was considered a target date for having changed banks. Many people were not able to switch on the actual date since it was a Saturday.
“(Tigers Credit Union) opened accounts, but not specifically on Nov. 5 because we are closed on Saturdays,” Kogut said.
“We did well and opened a lot of accounts, but in general it was an average month,” said Mary Wilkerson, senior vice president of Boone County National Bank.
Bank Transfer Day began in response to a $5 monthly debit card fee proposed by Bank of America. While it is not formally associated with the Occupy movement, Bank Transfer Day strongly resonates with the movement’s stance against corporate greed.
The movement behind Bank Transfer Day was successful in getting Bank of America to drop the proposed debit card fee.
But [according to The New Republic](http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/97033/occupy-wall-street-bank-transfer-day), savings accounts need to contain an estimated $25,000 before they are profitable for a bank, therefore Bank Transfer Day could potentially result in large banks losing unprofitable accounts and raising their profit margins.